Board of Education Action Meeting: September 24, 2026
by Lisa Haver
At the Board of Education’s September 3 mandatory public hearing, fourteen members of the public addressed the board on a number of issues, including the facilities plan and the impending closure of seventeen public schools. APPS member Deborah Grill testified at this meeting that the board, with little public notice, moved the date of the hearing up from October 15 to the day before Labor Day weekend; that is probably why attendance was lower than usual. Lisa Haver asked the board how it could adjourn that hearing without uttering a single word in response to the parents, students, educators and community members who came to speak to them. The board, which is made up of religious leaders, civic leaders, educational leaders and a mental health practitioner, did not offer one word of comfort to the Lankenau teacher who broke down in tears, begging the board, “Please do not close Lankenau.” The board has hung banners in 440 with slogans including “the children come first”. A board that closes children’s schools is not for the children. They serve as little more than lackeys for the mayor who appointed them and her political backers.
Girls High Students School the Adults
About 150 students from Girls High rallied before the meeting to demand that the district fix the ongoing understaffing at their school. Three testified about the severe overcrowding in a number of classes. One freshman told the board that she is in a class of 50 students with only one teacher. She told the board and Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr, “We need what we say we need. You cannot say what we need until you talk to us and come to our school.” Watlington directed Deputy Superintendent Brenda Elliott to speak to her in the lobby. APPS members listened as Elliott told the student that district administrators would be at the school Monday and that the problem would be resolved that week. Two other students, members of the junior class council, pointed out that the district had calculated the enrollment figures for this school year last April. They cited Article18 in the district’s contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers that limits the number of students in one class to 33. One teacher of World History, a graduation requirement, has four sections, all with over 50 students. The teacher had to bring in a table and chairs as there were not enough desks. Instead of providing more teachers, the students testified, the district cancelled the macro-economics class one of the students had been taking; she plans to major in economics and political science. “We will fight for what our school needs”, they told the superintendent and the board. Watlington said he knew that enrollment at Girls had grown but that he was “not aware of the class size imbalance.” That is hard to believe. In the month since school started, no deputy superintendent made him aware of the situation? Did Watlington or any of his staff read the September 18 Chalkbeat story on the subject? None of the board members asked Watlington to explain his administration’s neglect. Board President Reginald Streater called the situation, inexplicably, “a teachable moment”. Does the Superintendent have to be taught how to make sure schools have enough teachers? Maybe Streater was referring to the students teaching the adults how to advocate for themselves and their school when the adults in charge fail to do their jobs.
Olney High Teachers Protest Understaffing
Several teachers from Olney High School came to protest the understaffing at their school.
One teacher, in her testimony, asked why only 6 of the 17 positions that were cut in the spring were restored, given the $48 million that City Council funded the district to restore the 340 district positions that Watlington had threatened to cut. Students and teachers have come for over a year to ask what the district is doing to repair the sports facilities which still lack changing rooms and bathrooms. One teacher testified that she has taught at Olney for over 15 years. That includes the over ten-year period when Aspira ran the school—so poorly that the district had to take back control of the school. Why is Aspira, who received funds for building maintenance, not being held responsible? Watlington did not answer the teacher, and none of the board members asked him to explain why yet another school is understaffed.
District Still Withholding PSSA Scores
A student from SLA Middle School (SLAMS) asked Dr. Watlington why the district had still not released the PSSA scores. He testified that he understood that the state had some responsibility in the matter but that didn’t prohibit the district from releasing the data they have now. What does the district mean when they say they are “checking the questions?” he asked. Shouldn’t it take less time since all students took the test online? (Two charter administrators, later in the meeting, testified that charter schools received their PSSA scores from the state months ago.) Over 10,000 8th graders, who must apply to high schools right now, are affected by the district’s delays because PSSA scores are a large part of the application. In addition, the SLAMS student testified, teachers use the PSSA data to see which students need additional instruction. He asked that the district consider eliminating the standardized test score from the application process. Watlington, in his later remarks, rejected that proposal. None of the board members, who cancelled the August and September Goals and Guardrails meetings, asked Watlington when the PSSA scores will be released.
APPS Members Testify
Deborah Grill testified that the Facilities Master Plan is a plan “to destroy public education.”
She told the board she did not understand how they could sit in silence while students and parents and teachers, month after month, beg them to keep their schools open.
“Do you understand that each school you close contributes to the eventual death of public education in the city?” she asked them. They did not respond. Barbara Dowdall enumerated how much Philadelphia students have lost over the years. When she taught at Vaux Junior High in the 1980s, the school had: a library with certified school librarian and library aide, home economics and industrial arts, 4 art teachers, 3 world language teachers, orchestra, choir, 2 full-time music teachers and numerous sports teams and extra-curricular activities. Lisa Haver cited the coincidence that $600,000, the amount that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is donating to pay for air-conditioning at Northeast High, is the same amount that the CEO of MaST charter schools was paid in salary and compensation last year. None of the board members responded to any of the testimony.
Voting
Without any public deliberation, the board voted unanimously to approve 18 official items, spending a total of $10,280,000.00.
The meeting adjourned at 6: 35 PM.
Upcoming board meetings:
Goals and Guardrails: October 8, 4 PM at 440.
Action Meeting: October 29, 4 PM at 440.
[Published: September 27, 2026]
